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PRESS RELEASE -- July 1 -- Half
of Britain's men would choose Kylie Minogue for a Romantic Rich List
date, according to a new poll of British singles by Parship. Virgin-al Richard Branson flies away with a third
of the female vote.

USA TODAY -- June 27 -- A USA Today analysis of Census records of Americans ages 45-55 shows that the percentage of those who said they had never been married in 2006 had doubled since 1990, and the percentage of those who were currently married had dropped by 9%. According to the most recent data from the federal Survey of Income and Program Participation, which includes marriage, 13% of those who wed in 2003 were 45 and older. Internet dating has largely made it possible for many of these later-life first marriages. Yahoo Personals reports a 33% increase from January 2006 to November 2007 among users ages 45 and over who say they have never been married. Match.com reports an increase of almost 10%.

The full article was originally published at APP, but is no longer available.

What is your founding story?I started Sparkbliss because I had a personal need to meet eligible people myself and I also saw a growing market opportunity in terms of what I deemed the conventional online dating approach as being flawed, not providing the results that we expect in typical business models.

What makes Sparkbliss different?It's a private online dating site. We understand the the importance of protecting and controlling your personal information and not broadcasting it over the internet and not exposing it where it could compromise you. With Sparkbliss you truly control that information. So unlike every other social networking and online dating site, which enables you to search a database of photos and profiles, Sparkbliss doesn't allow that. The only way you can view Sparkbliss members is if you are invited by an existing member to view their bios. You can also forward the bios to your friends who you think would be interested in that person.

So it sounds like you are encouraging people to become matchmakers. Is that correct?Yes. And I see incredible benefits to that approach. We hear about romance scams and sweetheart swindles, so I truly wanted to provide that truly safe and private forum for dating and meeting people. And by having the matchmaking model, people that you know, people you trust, are going to be doing your bidding and they will not make an introduction if you have outdated photos or plagiarized descriptions of your likes and dislikes. The matchmakers not only provide the introductions but they also add a testimonial or reference.

How do you motivate and reward the matchmakers?For them, the motivation is the satisfaction that they're helping people they care about.

How do you make money? Is it free?It is an advertising based model. It's a free online dating and matchmaking site.

How are you priming the pumps?I've just been doing a lot of PR and conducting a lot of interviews. As of today, for example, I was interviewed by ABC radio.

I'm very confident now, especially from the reaction from the investment community. The need for protecting private information is emerging and Sparkbliss just fits nicely in saying 'look you do need to consider your personal privacy and here's how to do so without taking a whole lot of risk.'

VALLEYWAG -- June 27 -- The effort to migrate into an online publishing and social networking powerhouse is being hampered by developers dissatisfied with working conditions and an inability to hire new staff. An internal email obtained by Valleywag features Anthony Previte scolding the mutineers for disappearing from work early and being insubordinate. This news might put off the investors necessary to bankroll the company taking itself public — assuming the rumor that the big money has already demurred, delaying the planned $250m IPO, isn't true.

The full article was originally published at ValleyMag, but is no longer available.

EDGE BOSTON -- June 27 -- "Poz-only" dating site owners are hoping they help people infected with HIV meet others without the fear and exclusion they might encounter on other gay dating sites. The sites also give the men a forum to talk about it. The sites include BeOneCity, launched recently in Los Angeles, PositiveSingles, PozitiveLiving, PozMatch.com, PositivePersonals - all personals web sites for HIV+ people. Many organizations and HIV experts have not embraced serosorting. Although serosorting is entirely based on the foundation of trust, it is still a good way to reduce the spread of HIV to negative men, argues Robert Brandon Sandor, founder of Poz4Poz, a series of parties for pozzers. FULL ARTICLE@ EDGE BOSTON

BUSINESS WIRE -- June 27 -- Increased activity in live video chat dating is supported by the PEW Internet Study from January 2008 showing a 45% increase in online video audience interaction during the prior 12 month period. The membership growth in totally free online dating communities has accelerated to approximately 16% as projected by Jupiter Research's February 2008 report. VdateOnline's live webcam video chat interactions have increased by 28% during the second quarter of this year. VdateOnline offers its members free video or photo profiles, instant live webcam dating, video profile sharing, and virtual video dating. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Mark Brooks: Webdate has been offering video dating since 2004 and was one of the pioneers in the dating category. Mobestar has extended video dating onto the cell phone. (Disclosure: Webdate is a client of Courtland Brooks)

PHYSORG -- June 27 -- People are enticed by Match.com's offer of "millions of possibilities." But, as a team of researchers has shown in a recent study, this abundance of options may not make the chooser feel or choose any better than a pool of just a half dozen or so options. Researchers asked 88 participants what they thought was the ideal number of potential mates to choose from (range of 1-5,000). They said they would be most satisfied with 20-50 mate options. According to the study, people aren't paying very close attention to all of the various information provided in the profiles when they have many profiles to sift through and, thus, they might be missing out on interesting/suitable potential mates in this choice context.

The full article was originally published at PhysOrg, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Most dating sites offer up match options in this sort of quantity. Its when the users search that they quickly become inundated. Younger women can often feel overwhelmed with attention. The best option for them is to remove their photo and do the searching themselves.

PRESS RELEASE -- June 26 -- Globetech Ventures is launching a new global dating portal. This software product includes site branding, design implementation, special dating features, and innovative live and real-time voice chat rooms. Real-time video chat rooms are planned for the future. Other features include SMS interactivity with mobile phones and video conferencing.

The full article was originally published at CNN Money, but is no longer available.

INTERNET NEWS -- June 26 -- Facial recognition technology could help the lovelorn find a better match. Eyealike offers facial recognition systems for enterprises customers and online dating and social network sites. The idea is, users will be able to upload an image, or even choose from a selection of celebrity faces, and click on screen levers to adjust that image to their personal tastes. Mark Brooks, a consultant to the online dating industry, said facial recognition is the latest in series of technical advances with more to follow. He notes the advent of online "speed dating" sites like WooMe and ratings sites like Hot or Not. There are also already sites like MyDouble if you want to just see what celebrities you most resemble and perhaps use that info in a dating profile. Brooks agrees, the facial recognition and editing is better-suited to would be casual daters. "A site like eHarmony is slow to let users share photographs because it's more about getting to know the other person," he said. "A lot of this is about trying to fix the real world which is broken. In the real world, you see pretty girls and hunky men on magazine covers who are largely unattainable."FULL ARTICLE @ INTERNET NEWS

POST BULLETIN -- June 25 -- It's Just Lunch is a dating service for busy professionals, founded in 1991 by a Chicago woman whose engagement was called off. Her tedious search to meet "normal," well-educated professionals inspired her to help others. An annual membership fee of $1,900 ensures at least 14 dates. It's Just Lunch works with select restaurants, and arranges lunch, happy hour or dinner reservations for each couple. Clients reveal only their first names and are seated together by the restaurant host. Each person pays for their own bill. The Rochester branch opened in January, although the company has been working with Rochester clients for the past 10 years.

The full article was originally published at Post Bulletin, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: One wonders, is the internet dating industry leaving money on the table?

THE PARADIGM SHIFT -- June 23 -- Over 100,000 users have taken the paid dating survey I sent out last night. 15.23% of daily active US users are currently active paying subscribers of other dating sites. 30% of people admitted clicking on ads. Most said they look at the ad and than check out the site later and signup. Normally around 300,000 users from the US log into Plentyoffish every day, representing 45,690 paying subscribers with 58,727 active subscriptions given an ARPU of $130 that is around $8,000,000. The longer they've been on Plentyoffish the higher the probability they have a paid subscription elsewhere. 3% of POF users have two paid subscriptions. Given that there are 1 to 1.4 million US paid subsribers monthly we reach between 10% to 20% of them.

The full article was originally published at The Paradigm Shift, but is no longer available.

PR WEB -- June 23 -- Moses Brown, founder and CEO of OnlineBootyCall.com (OBC), the casual dating website, announced his Top 10 Do's and Don'ts of online dating: 10. DO keep it simple and casual on the first date. 9. DON'T act too interested8. DO compliment her on her appearance7. DON'T hesitate to ask her out 6. DO act confident 5. DON'T be cocky 4. DO offer to pay for the date, guys3. DO use protection2. DON'T look for dates that are out of your league1. DO play the gameFULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

PR-INSIDE -- June 23 -- The OmniDate online dating application is now available for dating sites to license and use. While using the OmniDate application, daters are represented by avatars of their choosing. The dates also get to pick a virtual place for their date, such as a swanky lounge, a laid-back beach resort, or a hip bar or restaurant. While the couple communicates through advanced text messaging, the animated avatars can laugh, act surprised, smile and even touch, adding a realistic dating dimension.

The full article was originally published at PR Inside, but is no longer available.

NATIONAL POST -- June 23 -- Anyone can apply to join a new online dating site about to launch in Canada, but just a gorgeous few will be admitted. BeautifulPeople.net allows its members to determine who is hot enough to be part of the exclusive dating pool and who is simply not. BeautifulPeople.net has about a one-in-10 acceptance rate worldwide. Of 1.8m prospects, the site now has 175,000 members.

The full article was originally published at The National Post, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: There's a growing number of elitest dating sites. BeautifulPeople.net joins the likes of Hotenough.org and the by introduction only VIP matchmaking service EliteIntroductions.com.

MARKETWIRE -- June 26 -- Eyealike, a visual-based search platform provider, revealed new Attraction Trait Levers for Eyealike Faces, an image-to-image search solution for facial recognition and similarity matching. "Having a physical connection with someone is one of the most important components of a relationship, yet a huge percentage of first dates never turn into second dates due to a lack of mutual attraction," says Mark Brooks a consultant to the online dating industry. "We can help daters quickly find people they are attracted to, whether it's someone who looks like their favorite movie star or anyone else they find attractive", said Greg Heuss, president of Eyealike. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKETWIRE

SEACOAST ONLINE -- June 20 -- Good old Samantha from "Sex and the
City" answers the question "why men cheat" with the statement: "Men
cheat for the same reason that dogs lick their (privates), because they
can." But then level-headed Carrie responds that women cheat too. And
that brings me to a discussion of a company called "AshleyMadison.com",
which labels itself "The World's Premier Discreet Dating Service". One
of their slogans is "Monogamy is monotonous", another is "Life is
short. Have an affair". When I first heard of Ashley Madison, I quickly
assumed that its membership would consist entirely of married men, but
they could not have stayed in business for seven years if only men
joined. They state that their male to female ratio is about 8.5 men for
every 1.5 women. FULL ARTICLE @ SEACOAST ONLINE

OPW -- June 22 -- Yvonne Rice of singlesdatingpedia.com unravels the mysteries of dating and what it means to be single now in her two new books, Love Sex Lies and the Internet mouse 'trap' and Finding "The One" – A Powerful Step-by-Step Guide to Making Online Dating Work for You. Rice, a former dating agency owner who lives in Australia, has conducted exhaustive research and interviewed thousands of people about what it's like to be single and searching.

OPW INTEVIEW -- June 21 -- Chinese internet dating sites use mobile billing as their primary billing mechanism. But the government threw a spanner in the works and capped the amount providers could bill each month. Too many mobile companies were tricking users into signing up for monthly dues. So, there was a big change in the fees that the government was allowing to be charged through telephones. It went from 30 RMB to 10 RMB a month. I recently heard there has been another change; anybody who charges through the phone has to get permission again from the user before they can rebill every month. It has had a big impact on all the websites which were using mobile. Baihe.com used reacted by switching its business model to become a real world matchmaker with an online dating element. - Mark BrooksHow are other dating sites dealing with the imposed limitations for mobile billing?Actually they don't have a good way to deal with it. Most of the services which are relying on the mobile are now leaving the space. Their profits are shrinking very fast. Mobile payment as a major payment method for online dating companies is shrinking quickly. However, at the same time, online payment is growing fast with ecommerce growing and the banks efforts. In the last year, online payments doubled and it's still growing quickly. Of course, it's still much more complex compared with mobile payments. With online payment growing, we can predict the payment environment will improve for online dating companies.

When we last spoke you have moved very significantly and quickly through to offering real world matchmaking services. How have things changed in the last year since we spoke?We have made significant progress in offline matchmaking business. Our price increased two times and we are profitable. Our average price is now $1,200.

What services are you offering?For every candidate we verify their identity and do some communication before they meet each other. We make sure the candidates are a good match. A lot of the customers are afraid that they will be refused by the other candidate. So we provide the pre-date communication and then we arrange the date.

Do you offer any coaching services as well?We provide some coaching in how to communicate and this is also a paid service. We have one -to-one coaching and some training calls for groups of people. We also published a book this month. Lots of TV stations and newspapers are very interested in this book: "Women Must Marry a Good Husband".

How do you charge for the coaching services?It's now based on the training class. We charge $40 US per class. At this time, we are designing a new service. We will provide clients with one year of coaching.

Who does the matchmaking?For VIP customers, the matchmaking is done by the consultant. They are using our back end assistants to filter the candidates from our user base. For the new product we designed, we will provide a coach to the customer and they will find the candidates by themselves.

What regions do you serve?We have offices in Beijing and Shanghai. Also we provide remote services for other big cities in China.

What have been the major challenges that you've encountered as you have created this matchmaking service? We have solved a lot of problems and there are still a lot of challenges. The first challenge was how to build trust. As time passes, more and more customers start to recognize that we are serious about providing this matchmaking service. Almost 50% of our current users are referred by their friends who already used our service. The second challenge is that there are not enough qualified matchmakers. And the third one is in balancing profitability and service quality. The profitability depends on how many customers are served by one matchmaker at the same time. If you assign too many customers to the matchmakers, they cannot handle the workload and the service quality drops down quickly.

How do you determine pricing?Some customers are very difficult to serve because they are very critical and need a lot of attention. So we developed a system which gives out an estimated cost, the best price to close the deal. The system helps us identify potential personality issues. Actually we cannot decide very accurately for every single person. We can only make the system fair on average. We have some very profitable customers and there are also some customers who are difficult and we lose money. That's much like insurance companies.

How do you measure service and success on an ongoing basis?The first factor is success rate. Is the client getting married? Are they engaged? Have they decided to terminate the service because they have some commitment with someone? Secondly, sometimes they don't find their right person through Baihe, but still we like to know if our coaching helped them. We measure our service profit, and monitor the attitudes of the matchmakers and whether the service is delivered in time and is meaningful. So we do customer satisfaction surveys every month and decide if the performance is adequate from the service team.

PR WEB -- June 20 -- SaferDates.com launched Investidate, a new background check feature. For just $19.95, an individual of user's choice will be screened for marriage, sexual offenses, felonies and misdemeanors. All they need is their full name, birthday and current address. SaferDates will email the results within approximately 24-72 hours. The email notification will indicate a pass or fail result. Specific criteria for a failed result cannot be disclosed as per their legal policy. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB